Harbours help double fisheries output

Muscat: Dr Saud bin Hamoud al Habsi, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, said that total production of fisheries in the Sultanate is expected to reach 1.3 million tonnes, according to the plan devised by the ministry to upgrade the fisheries sector.

In a statement to Oman News Agency (ONA), Dr Saud pointed out that the fisheries sector figures among the five sectors designated by the government as core components of economic diversification strategy.

Vocational fishing (espoused by conventional fishermen, not firms) accounts for 95 per cent of the total output and there is a plan to expand the commercial fishing sector without prejudice to the rights of Omani fishermen who depend solely on fishing as a source of livelihood. Fishing harbours, both along the Arabian Sea and Sea of Oman, will achieve the strategic vision of the ministry, said the minister, who stressed the significance of the multipurpose fishing jetty at Duqm and the fishing jetty at Daba, currently under construction.

All these ports, once fully utilised, will double the production of the Sultanate, said the minister, adding that the plan also includes the setting up of a fishing jetty at Al Shuwaimiya in the Wilayat of Shaleem and Al Halaniyat Islands and another port in the Wilayat of Mahout.